A lost piece of gaming history has surfaced, offering a rare look at the infant days of Demon's Souls. Video game researcher Lance McDonald has shared a previously lost prototype presentation that defunct Sony developer Japan Studio put together in 2007 for a conference called Gameshare 4.
Long before Elden Ring, Bloodborne, and Dark Souls established FromSoftware as an industry titan, the developer was paired with Japan Studio on the 2007 project. Company notes from the presentation introduced FromSoftware as the brain behind the 1994 graveyard quest King's Field.
Prototype Features and Cut Content
The 2007 presentation showcases early designs of lorn wastelands and mutated enemies. Many of these ideas never made it to the final 2009 release, including a serpent knight with a squiggly neck and tall boots.
Notably, a video demo of the Demon's Souls prototype features an optional first-person perspective reminiscent of King's Field, which would have placed the player's view directly against bosses' scaly bellies.
Japan Studio's notes also addressed the design philosophy behind the game's multiplayer elements. Calling online games too time-consuming — illustrating the point with a screengrab from a South Park World of Warcraft episode — and exclusively offline RPGs limiting, the presentation emphasized the importance of network connectivity. That focus laid the groundwork for the see-through phantoms and summon systems that define the Souls series today.
Parallels to Modern FromSoftware Titles
Early concept art from the 2007 presentation bears striking resemblances to subsequent FromSoftware games. One illustration depicts a luxurious grass field with a large ring of stone in the center, closely mirroring Stonesword Key boss areas in Elden Ring's Limgrave.
Another piece of art shows a gnarled dragon trapped in a black pit glowing softly with red magma, which shares clear visual DNA with later series bosses like Dark Souls' Demon Firesage and Flamelurker.